


The most important bet

by ViennaFanficProductions



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Basically, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, POV Alternating, Smut, Swearing, Un-betad, might have continuity errors, sugarsweet, watch out for diabetes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 22:09:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5432552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViennaFanficProductions/pseuds/ViennaFanficProductions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN BY TWO PEOPLE. TAKE A LOOK AT OUR PROFILE DESCRIPTION TO KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. After the events of the Chimera Ant Arc, both Shoot and Knuckle realise their feelings for eachother, but the idiots they are, it takes them some time to act on them. How much time exactly, is being the subject of a bet between Knov and Morel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! :)
> 
> Before you start, please read the description of our profile. It is important that you know, that this was a story written together, and that you also know what that means.
> 
> Thank you, and enjoy reading about two idiots in love!

It had been a month since the battle with the Chimera Ants. A long month in which Shoot hadn’t set foot outside the hospital he was in. He hadn’t even set a foot outside of the bed he was confined to for the first two weeks. By now he could even go to the toilet on his own. Of course he was still told to ring for assistance, but with a crutch in his right hand and his left leg being useable again, it was possible. Probably the reason why the nurse looking after him insisted he should ring for assistance rather than do anything on his own was the fact that after just one week confined to the hospital bed, Knuckle tried to carry him to the toilet and it didn’t go as planned and Shoot’s wound reopened and it was very painful and embarrassing. Much more embarrassing than asking the nurse to help him when he needed to go to the toilet – which was the initial reason why Knuckle had tried carrying him there. Well, it had failed horribly and added some extra days to his confinement to the hospital.

Knuckle … he was a reliable constant in these miserable days. He was always showing up at the hospital in the early morning and only leaving when they would kick him out in the evening. He spent basically his whole day with Shoot. If he could have slept there, he surely would have done it too.

Alright, not all of his days. Sometimes he was checking up on Gon or Morel, talking about how he met Palm and Meleoreon, how everyone was. Sometimes he would also come later – just a bit – an hour later than the start of the visiting hours, usually with an apology on how he had overslept or how he needed to spend some more time with the girls (two rats as Shoot had found out after a few days, despite Knuckle always just referring to them as his girls). But this one hour in the morning was torment for Shoot and he would lift his phone every other minute, checking if he had any messages from Knuckle – if he might not come today after all.

One didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that Knuckle probably barely had time to sleep. With spending up to twelve hours per day with Shoot, having a two hours trip from his home to the hospital and needing to take care of his pets as well, it seemed a wonder that he was still willing to take this long trip every day. Also even if he hadn’t done the mental math himself, seeing Knuckle doze off in the chair at his bedside was enough of a hint for Shoot.

Despite his shyness, Shoot managed to mention this when Palm visited him to share some cookies she had made and only a few days later there was a portal at Knuckle’s place and the hospital room. The result was initially not Knuckle getting more sleep, but him sneaking back to the hospital during the night, checking up on Shoot whether he was okay and sometimes waking him up in the progress. A bit more positive changes were that Knuckle could bring nice food from his home and they’d snack together and drink a beer – a bit diversion from the hospital food. Furthermore Knuckle introduced Shoot to his two girls and the two rats would race on the hospital bed, discovering all of it and sniffing Shoot.

The days went on like that and at least once every day Shoot would say a soft “Thank you” to Knuckle and the other would dismiss it, saying “You would’ve done the same for me!” He did like seeing Shoot smile though. That was enough of a payback for all of his efforts.

A few days before Shoot was to be released from the hospital, Morel paid a surprise visit. He was already grinning over both cheeks as he approached the hospital bed, sitting down with Shoot and chatting with him. To be fair Morel did most of the chatting. At least until Knuckle joined and they all had a good time together, almost forgetting that just a few weeks ago they had been at the verge of death.

When Morel brought up the subject on what Shoot would do after being released from the hospital, Knuckle answered quickly: “I will take him in until he’s at perfect health again.”

“Nice”, Morel answered. “Saves me coming up with something.” He laughed.

Shoot remained silent – an option he usually returned to when he was unsure what to do. Like now. This was the first time he heard Knuckle’s suggestion. While Knuckle presented it to Morel like they had it all planned out, the truth was that they had never talked about it.

“I’m sure you’ll have a good time together, boys!”, Morel grinned. Turning to Knuckle he continued: “It’s not like I can train you anyway at the moment. I need to recover and take care of some other stuff.” He sighed a little. “But hey, we’ll continue right where we left off after we’re all fine again. Promise!”

On the next day after a few hours into Knuckle being there again, Shoot managed to ask: “Why did you say you’d take me to live with you?”

“Huh? Cause I will?”

“You didn’t even ask me.”

“Well, it’s obvious ya gotta live with me, y’know”, Knuckle explained, waving his arms as if that counted instead of logical reasoning. “I mean who else really? Ya ain’t got many friends.”

“But I … will be released from the hospital, meaning I can manage on my own.” _With a little help maybe. You can come and visit sometimes, help me with a few things. I’d love that. But I can’t accept this offer of you to look after me._

“Stupid!”, Knuckle commented simply. “Yer just stupid, you idiot. I mean obviously someone gotta look after ya for a bit and I’m having enough time and … enough space in my apartment and … I’m spending all of my days with you anyway.”

There was no use arguing with Knuckle. Shoot knew that. He gave a weak protest, before giving up. He wasn’t sure how to feel about moving together with Knuckle, but there was no way it wouldn’t happen.

To be honest the transportation to Knuckle’s apartment was a huge advantage. It took ten seconds and was convenient. Given that he only had one arm and his extra hands couldn’t actually support him, he was lent a wheelchair – and sitting inside of it he rolled from the hospital room straight into Knuckle’s living room.

“Well, here we are!”, Knuckle announced cheerfully. “It’s not … ahm … I didn’t have time to clean up everything and all, but … ya like it?”

“I knew how you lived before”, Shoot mentioned. _And it was just as messy._

“Great!”, Knuckle reacted, grinning as if the answer Shoot gave had implied that he liked the place.

While Knuckle picked up random things lying around in a weak attempt to make his place look more inviting, he simultaneously explained where everything was as if ignoring Shoot’s comment that he knew how the other lived because he had been there before.

There were only few things Shoot was unclear about. “Where am I going to sleep?”

“In the bed of course”, Knuckle explained as if that had been a really stupid question.

“In the bed?”

“Well, I was going to show you the bedroom too, y’know!”, Knuckle exclaimed. “Oh, hey, girls, remember Shoot? They let him out of the hospital!”

“Knuckle…”

“Oh yeah, ahm, should I roll you to the bedroom?”

“I can move the wheelchair on my own without problem”, Shoot explained. “I am really just interested in whether…”

Before he could finish the sentence Knuckle was behind him, pushing the wheelchair with Shoot towards the bedroom, which looked even messier, if that was possible. While that was also concerning, the main question in Shoot’s head was where he was going to sleep. There was a rather huge bed with one half being used as storage for clothes and various other things, but that was where Knuckle would sleep, right?

“I’ll put this stuff away of course, don’t worry. And you can sleep there then, next to me.” He gestured towards the bed. Noticing the worries written all over Shoot’s face, Knuckle added: “I’m really not thrashing around in my sleep or anything. And it’s comfy. And I’ll change the sheets and everything before you sleep here.”

Seeing how the worried expression didn’t leave Shoot’s face, Knuckle offered more and more explanations until giving up, not being able to figure out what the problem was. Ultimately he settled for asking: “What’s the problem with my bed?”

“We will sleep there together?”, Shoot asked again to be sure he understood it right.

“Yeah.” It didn’t occur to Knuckle that this exact fact might be the problem. And Shoot was of course way too embarrassed and just generally shy to mention it. He tried, however, to make the other understand it without needing to actually spell it out – something that will prove to be really difficult, given how hard it was for Knuckle to pick up these subtle signs. Shoot knew this way too well, working together with the guy for over eight years now.

“Knuckle, I…”

“Oh, and I was already wondering about what we could eat… I can’t cook, as you well know it, but there are many awesome fast-food restaurants around… And you could cook when you get better.”

“Knuckle…”

“Or we could just cook together! You will tell me what to do, and like this I can maybe even learn a thing or two.”

“Knuckle…” the problem with Shoot trying to interrupt Knuckle’s ranting was that whenever he tried, he was being more and more silent about it. While anyone else would become louder, Shoot was becoming less and less audible throughout the process, especially if he was being ignored or unheard often in the conversation. The third time he was saying Knuckle’s name, he was as loud as Knuckle’s girls when they planned on doing something that was forbidden – which was, by any standards, almost unnoticeable.

“I thought today we could eat rice, with tuna and corn. Nothing much I know, but…” by now Shoot gave it up, and looked towards the floor, so that the other would not be able to see his growing embarrassment over such a stupid thing – because even he himself knew it was stupid, but getting a nosebleed from the extra flowing blood in his head while lying next to Knuckle, would be even more stupid.

“Is something wrong?” asked Knuckle in the end, finally noticing it, that yes, something indeed was wrong. The answer was only inaudible murmuring, and God how much he hated when Shoot did that. “Repeat it, will ya?”

“I… Can also sleep on… the couch, maybe?” Knuckle blinked in confusion for a few times.

“Yeah, sure, you’re thin enough… But it’s really no problem that you’re sleeping with me! It’s much more comfy, believe me. Like, a hundred times more comfy. Not to mention that the TV is in the bedroom – how do you expect us to watch stupid gameshows together, with you lying on the couch?”

“…” was all Shoot said. _I give up._ Is what he wanted to say.

While Knuckle prepared the rice for dinner, Shoot was also in the kitchen, taking inventory of what was even available for future cooking. He let his hands wander around the cupboards and the fridge, occasionally picking up things and bringing them down to him to examine them. By the time the rice was boiling over and Knuckle cursing about it, Shoot’s hands had found the trash bags and filled an empty one almost completely with supposed ingredients from the various cupboards.

“Ey, what are you doing?”

“Sorting out”, Shoot explained. “Quite some things have gone bad already.”

“Oh.”

“And I will write a shopping list for you. It would be nice if you could buy everything tomorrow – and then we can cook together, like you suggested.”

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, that’s good. I’ll bring ya something to write.”

“You look out for the rice, I can do this myself”, Shoot answered, his hands already manoeuvring the wheelchair out of the kitchen. Now why were these kinds of conversations so easy for him, but certain other conversations just impossible?

They had dinner in bed, while watching TV, which is how Knuckle usually had dinner anyway. The rice tasted a bit plain, but the canned tuna evened out the lack of taste, so it was fine. Well as fine as that level of cooking could get anyway. From tomorrow they would actually cook, Shoot decided.

“Oh, look, there is the show with the stupid people again!”, Knuckle exclaimed happily. “It’s really funny!”

While the show was a bit too stupid for Shoot’s liking and the rice a bit too plain, he couldn’t deny that somehow he loved the whole situation. The warm bed and Knuckle beside him, being happy and cheerful – that was just lovely. It made him think about how lucky they actually are for surviving all of this – and without fatal injuries. This line of thought made him think about Gon, who was not so much favoured by the circumstances. He never saw how he looked, but from the description of others he could imagine it very well.

“Shoot…?” Knuckle spoke up, with his mouth full of rice, suddenly. “Why are you crying?” he was indeed crying, Shoot noticed. He was impressed and angry at himself that he almost proposedly distracted his mind from happy thoughts to dark ones, and that it affected him so much. “Is… is something wrong…?” Knuckle was close to crying himself, Shoot could hear it. They were just like that – if one cried, the other was sure to follow within a short period of time. Shoot wiped his teary cheeks and eyes with his hand, sniffing a little.

“I am fine.” He answered afterwards.

“The hell you are, you were crying!”

“But I’m really fine…”

“But… but you were crying!”

“And now you’re crying…”

“Am not!!!” Knuckled sniffed a big one – something that sounded so disgusting that Shoot made a face upon hearing it – and wiped his eyes of yet unshed tears. “Now tell me what the hell is wrong!”

“I was just… thinking about how lucky we are, to be able to sit here now and watch TV.”

“Why is that something to cry about…? That’s something good! And luck has nothing to do with it – we are just simply awesome.”

“And Knov helped, too.”

“Yes, Knov definitely helped a lot, but otherwise, we are here because we are awesome. Especially you.” This comment made Shoot pink in the cheeks, like any other compliment he received did. Instinctively he pulled the blanket up to his face, not even realising he did that until Knuckle commented on it. Then of course he dropped the blanket again and after some seconds of staring, wondering what would happen now, he found himself being crushed by a hug.

“I’m so happy yer here now!”, Knuckle explained, tightening the hug which had reached a point where it was a bit uncomfortable for Shoot. Not just because it embarrassed him, but also physically uncomfortable. To put it shortly, it hurt. And Knuckle was crying at his shoulder, saying over and over again how happy he was. Shoot decided not to mention the uncomfortableness. The other man needed this moment and he was willing to give it to him. To be honest, he didn’t mind it so much. He appreciated the gesture.

After calming down and watching TV for some more, they got ready to sleep. That meant for Knuckle finding a pyjama for himself and something that Shoot could wear for the night, which proved to be a way more difficult task than imagined. Then, after finding, the next issue was putting on the clothes. Not that it was an issue for Shoot. Being quite embarrassed about being helped with that, Shoot had managed to change his clothes with the help of his nen hands by the beginning of the third week. The issue was rather that Knuckle was insisting on helping him. And when Knuckle insisted on something, he was very hard to convince otherwise.

Desperately Shoot raced off with the wheelchair and a too big shirt in his lap, which would be his nightshirt, into the bathroom, planning to lock the door behind him and change and go to the toilet in peace, alone. As good as the plan was, he didn’t consider that Knuckle’s apartment was not too big and the bathroom was very space efficient, so that one had enough room walking around, but there was no easy way to fit an entire wheelchair past the door with the chance to lock it.

“Hah! Gotcha!”, Knuckle exclaimed, catching the handles of the wheelchair and explaining Shoot that whether he wanted it or not, he would be helped. On multiple occasions Shoot had tried to explain to the other that this forceful behaviour was not, in any way, considered help. Naturally Knuckle hadn’t listened to it.

“Come on, I will help you get up!”

“I can get up on my own…” the difference in volume between the two was so huge, that someone who would listen in from the outside would think that Knuckle was talking to himself.

With a swift movement, Knuckle was reaching under Shoots’s armpits, and lifted him, not failing to comment that he lost weight while being in the hospital. Shoot tried to push him away gently at first, but when it did not work, he needed to reach to more drastic measures. After Knuckle pulled off the t-shirt from the other, he found himself being knocked back by several centimetres, meeting the wall of the shower cabin. This was the result of Shoot kicking him, and with the same momentum fell back into the wheelchair with a ‘thud’, letting out a little whine as he hit his backside in the process. Knuckle could only blink, and was not able to decide whether he should address the nastiness of the kick, or scold Shoot for not being careful and hurting himself.

“Jus’ wanted to help, ya know…” he said in the end, pouting.

“And I said I’m fine alone…” Shoot’s face was beet red while answering, the words barely above a whisper, desperately trying not to look at the shorter man.

“Yeah, guess I should have listened, huh?”

“Yes.”

Awkward silence.

Awkward silence between them usually happened after Knuckle did something stupid and Shoot needed to be drastic about it. Like, for example, right now.

“Well then…” said Knuckle after some time, moving out of the bathroom, jumping over the wheelchair with ease. “I will let you change. Ahm… And sorry. If you need help just scream.”

“I will.” With that, Knuckle gave some privacy to Shoot.

Whom, minutes later, upon putting on the oversized t-shirt realised, that it was far too short for his liking. Sure, it covered everything that needed to be covered, but it showed way too much leg. All of it actually. The problem was not the showing of legs alone – however, it was a vital part of it – but also that his wounds were not completely healed yet. His right leg, which was severely injured, and needed to be basically reconstructed, went over more than just one surgery to be good again. These marks were still relatively fresh, and had a nasty, pinkish discoloration to them. In short, it was not a pretty sight. He really did not want to show it around.

While sitting on the toilet, he looked at his legs again, trying to come up with a solution. He could scream for Knuckle and ask him to bring him pants or he could just wear the same pants that he wore during the day. Weighing the options for some minutes, also brushing his teeth meanwhile, he finally reached the decision to have Knuckle bring him pants.

The first miracle was that Knuckle actually heard the other’s timid “screaming”, the second that he returned with home pants that actually fit enough, meaning they wouldn’t fall off instantly. Overall a much better result than Shoot had anticipated.

While Knuckle used the bathroom, Shoot got comfortable in his side of the bed. Thankfully there were two blankets, so he could wrap himself into one of them. This wouldn’t get awkward. They’d just go to sleep and wake up in the morning and everything would be just fine.

When Knuckle climbed into the bed, Shoot tensed up a bit in his blanket cocoon.

“Hey, I really wanna help ya and make ya feel good and comfy, okay?”, Knuckle started to talk unexpectedly. “But … you also need to tell me what exactly I should do for that, y’know?”

_As if you’d listen to that. Though … maybe you would listen, but only if it is something I need help with, but never if it is something I am refusing help for._

“Okay? Ya gotta talk to me, ‘s all I’m saying. Got it?”

Shoot nodded, which was a bit unrecognisable, but the other understood anyway.

“Good. Sleep well then!”

“Sleep well.”

Barely twenty minutes after falling asleep Shoot woke up to strange sounds. At first he thought he was dreaming, but the sounds continued. He wasn’t particularly scared, but unsure because he couldn’t explain it. Carefully he lifted himself to his wheelchair, going to the living room and quickly spotting the source of the noise there. One of the rats was throwing her food bowl around the cage, clashing it with other objects, making sure to produce a lot of noise. For a moment Shoot just stayed there and the rat looked at him with big eyes. And Shoot was so happy, that no one saw him while he teared up at the cuteness of the little creature, and reached in for her food bowl to fill it with all sorts of fresh vegetables in the kitchen. At least, he thought that no one saw him.

When it was needed, Knuckle could be really silent. It was needed in his line of work, when he is required to carefully and unnoticeably approach a wild animal. He sometimes also used it to stalk people, for various reasons of course. Now he just wanted to check if everything was alright, without scaring Shoot, but what he saw made him weak in the knees. When Shoot returned, Kuckle made sure he was not seen by the doorframe. He saw the taller man giving the vegetable to the rat, and observed her eating it, stuffing in as much as she could without suffocating, and Shoot smiling softly at the scene, until he noticed that the other rat, whose cage was on the coffee table, have also emerged from her house. Naturally, he needed to get vegetables for her too.

Knuckle just watched how gently, slowly, and with care Shoot reached in, and was fascinated by how quickly his girls have accepted his presence in the apartment. Not only did they allow him to grab them the first time he brought them to the hospital bed, but they also had absolute no objections to Shoot reaching in and taking their precious food bowls. Knuckle always knew animals had a good judge of character, but from this he could, and anyone could actually, see that there were not many people like Shoot around – so caring, and selfless, and gentle, without faking it even a little bit.

And while watching, and while his heart was beating fast, he realised something horribly important, something that he noticed before but had no name for it.

He was in love with Shoot McMahon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After his grand realisation, Knuckle needs to come to terms with it, and try not to be awkward.

When he quietly returned to the bed, he could feel his heart beating up to his throat and surely his face flushed up a bit too. He felt like Shoot – just with the exception that Shoot felt like that more often. Knuckle pretended to be asleep when he felt the other returning to the bed. But in reality he was wide awake, hoping his loud heartbeat wouldn’t betray him and the other could fall back asleep.

Sorting through his thoughts, he realised that he had been into Shoot for some time now. Trying to pinpoint the exact moment, he failed. He was kind of always into him and not into him at the same time. It was complicated. From the first day he had tried to strike conversations with him, not being discouraged by the fact that the other barely answered and mostly just turned away. And never talked to him just like that. Then after a few weeks Shoot started to give up and also talk with Knuckle and Morel had lost a bet to Knov on that and was a bit annoyed. After being on a few missions together, facing death as a team, he had managed to make Shoot smile and his heart had jumped at that. From then he’d worked on them getting closer and closer, they had met outside of work on a regular basis and when Morel complimented Shoot on how he became better at opening up, the other had explained that this was all thanks to Knuckle. And then his heart had jumped even higher and it was the first time he’d hugged Shoot.

He had loved him back then. He just … didn’t know it yet. This man – from the first moment he wanted to get this man’s attention, wanted to gain his affection and still wanted to do exactly that. One day, when he had returned from the hospital, still travelling two hours back and forth, completely exhausted, his girls had looked at him from their cages and he took one out and she stared at him as if asking: “Why do you do that to yourself?” – at least that is how he had interpreted it. And he had answered (because he does that sometimes, talking to his pets) that Shoot was his friend, his best friend, his partner in crime and that he just needed to do this for him. Back then he had almost realised his love, except that he was exhausted to the point of collapsing and just fell into the bed, not being able to think about it. Now, however, he had plenty of time to think. The wheels in his brain were turning throughout the whole night, barely leaving him any time to sleep. In the end he managed to get together four hours of resting sleep, with an extra two hours of just lying with closed eyes, and since that was way more than his bare minimum, he did not feel tired. His thoughts, however, have still kept him in a state where he was mostly just thinking and thinking, without much attention to his surroundings. Hence the reason he did not notice, when Shoot got out of bed at half past seven.

Thinking the other to be sleeping, Shoot was very silent about getting up. He slowly closed the bedroom door, so that no noise would bother Knuckle, and after giving a spiteful look to the wheelchair, he took one of his crutches and limped to the toilet.

By the time Knuckle ‘woke up’, around nine, his apartment was almost completely different. Shoot has been busy, cleaning not only the living room, but also the cages of the girls. As he progressed further, he saw that the hallway was also clean, all the old newspapers and advertisements being thrown out, and his letters (many that he did not even open yet) were stacked in a neat group on the cupboard. The dishes were washed, and his oven was clean, and he saw from there Shoot cleaning the sink in the bathroom.

“Shoot!!” the sudden shout scared Shoot so much, that he dropped the sponge he was holding and nearly fell to the ground, grasping his chest just above his heart.

“Y-you scared me…” he managed to say after some time. Knuckle stepped there quickly to put an arm around his waist as support.

“What are you doing…?!” Shoot looked at him confused, not fully understanding the question.

“Cleaning…?”

“Yeah, but… Why the hell are you doing that?”

“Because it was messy? Is there a problem?” Knuckle looked around the bathroom now, and found it cleaner and more orderly than it was probably ever before. He saw Shoot’s three nen hands still cleaning the shower cabin.

“Yeah, you should … rest! You’re here to rest, dammit! And you’re cleaning my place? I mean … you … you shouldn’t!”

“I just want to show my gratefulness that I can stay here and that you will help me. And since cleaning isn’t your strongest suit anyway as it seems…”

“I would’ve done it! I was just too busy visiting you in the hospital all of the time in the last month.” Shoot was looking guilty. “Not saying I regret that… no, I mean … don’t look like that … okay, I wouldn’t have cleaned anyway, happy?”

Shoot gave a soft smile to Knuckle talking nonstop, flailing his arms.

“Why the hell aren’t ya in your wheelchair, Shoot!”, Knuckle now shouted.

“I don’t really need it.”

“Yes, ya do … what if you had fallen over while I was still in bed and … my God, you’re so stupid, ya could’ve injured yourself!”

“Well, now you’re awake, so it’s okay”, Shoot tried to reason. “You can watch over me while I finish this.”

“No, you just … I will clean and you go and sit in your wheelchair or somewhere else or…”

Knowing he’d need to partially give in, Shoot suggested: “I will sit in my wheelchair, finish cleaning, while you get dressed and make some coffee for both of us. Alright?”

Knuckle crossed his arms and uncrossed them again, unsure what to do. “Okay”, he then decided, “but you’re not allowed to work more after that.”

“Of course, I mean you wanted to learn how to cook anyway”, Shoot smiled. “I just boiled some nice, soft eggs for breakfast.”

“I can’t believe you!”, Knuckle exclaimed, but then started laughing. And then he brought the wheelchair and made Shoot sit in it, before giving him a smile, thanking him for the cleaning.

After that the time went on relatively slow. They ate together, talked, and after that Shoot handed over the shopping list he wrote, so Knuckle could go and buy everything written on it. While he was away, Morel called Knuckle’s mobile phone. He forgot to take it with himself, so Shoot was forced to pick it up, not feeling entirely comfortable with answering someone else’s phone.

“Hey, Knuckle!” started Morel, and he was so much into saying whatever he wanted to say, that Shoot did not feel enough bravery to stop him with saying that he was not Knuckle. “Knov’s not doing too well… In fact, he’s gotten a bit worse. I don’t know if I can do this alone anymore… Don’t misunderstand me, but I can hardly look at him without my heart aching. Could you and Shoot come with me? I’m sure some new people around would help him a little.”

“Of course.”

“… Wait… Shoot…?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place…?”

“…”

“Never mind. Would you tell this to Knuckle, too?”

“Naturally.”

“Thanks. And, how are you, you big hero?”

“Hero? Who calls me like that?” Shoot asked as he flushed up, hearing that.

“Knuckle says it all the time. He doesn’t say it to you?”

“N-no…”

“He’s always on about how amazing you were in the fight with Youpi, and how big of a hero you are for holding out that long, buying everyone time. Frankly, I tend to agree with him.” By now Shoot’s cheeks were flaming.

“Thank you”, he answered shakily and despite Morel not being able to see Shoot through the phone, he knew the other was most likely red all over from embarrassment. Not wanting to make him feel worse, Morel ended the phone call, saying Knuckle can call him back when he comes back.

When Knuckle returned Shoot had calmed down again. After almost kicking in the door, Knuckle entered his apartment with five shopping bags, almost knocking over various things, until arriving in the kitchen, dropping the bags as gently as possible, and a huge grin of success plastered over his face.

Shoot decided not to comment this situation and just rolled to the kitchen – he sat in the wheelchair so that Knuckle wouldn’t complain – looking through the bought groceries and packing them away. Of course half of it wasn’t what Shoot had written down on the list, but other “necessities” as Knuckle put it. Shoot weighed various snacks in his hands and that tray of beer that went into the fridge didn’t go by unnoticed neither.

“By the way, while you were gone Morel called.”

“What did he say?”

“Knov is not doing well and Morel wants us to come with him to visit him.”

“Oh, okay. I mean if you can manage to…”

“Knuckle, I’m fine. And before you complain, I can stay in my wheelchair all of the time. Oh, and call Morel!”

While Knuckle was phoning with Morel, Shoot put away the rest of the groceries with the help of his nen hands, and also standing up from the wheelchair while Knuckle was not looking. The phone call was relatively short, and he barely had time to sit back into it before Knuckle came back. From what they talked over the phone, Knuckle could say that they would be picked up by Morel, who will drive them to Knov’s apartment. That will not happen for the following two hours, so they had some time to kill. They decided to play with the girls, while talking about various things.

Knuckle just put both of the rats into Shoot’s lap, seeing how the tiny creatures ran up on his chest, climbing up on his shirt to reach his shoulders. The bigger and older rat was always more calm, she just sat there and cleaned herself, but the smaller one, who seemed to take a particular liking to Shoot, was licking his face, lips, chin, and even eyelids when she got the chance. After some time, she also climbed up using the taller man’s braids, to reach the top of his head. Knucke found that immensely funny, while Shoot got really worried that the tiny, fragile thing would fall off and hurt herself. He reached up to grab her gently, but she was always fast and cunning, slipping through long fingers with her small body and silky fur. When Shoot was positively desperate, and so worried about the rat that he teared up, Knuckle stopped laughing and just picked the animal up himself.

“Hey, calm down.” He said to his friend, as he put his girl back in the cage. “She does that often.”

“But what if she falls off…?”

“She wouldn’t…”

“You can’t know that… What if she fell off and died, it would be my fault…” the distress in Shoot was very apparent on his face still, and Knuckle could also tell that more tears would follow. He knew that his friend usually carried everyone’s well-being in his heart, but now he seemed especially sensitive. Was it because he was not fully recovered yet?

With playing with the girls the time flew past rather fast. Or maybe that was the fact that they still ate a bit too? In any way, it was almost time and they got ready and while Knuckle was still busy checking if his hair was perfect, Morel already arrived.

“How are my two amazing boys?”, he shouted, as he entered.

Shoot rolled into his sight field quickly (he had promised Knuckle to stay in the wheelchair after all), greeting him with a respectful nod.

“Should I help you get into the car while Knuckle is still busy doing his makeup?”, Morel joked and quickly a scream about how he was not putting on makeup from the bathroom followed from Knuckle. Shoot nodded and ten minutes later all three of them were in the car with Shoot in the front and Knuckle mostly leaning forward from the back seat as if missing important conversation if he didn’t.

“Since they are checking on Knov constantly from the hospital, he’s temporarily staying in a small apartment nearby. Near the Hospital I mean, but it’s just a good hour and a half there with car, so I thought you can spare the time.”

“Of course”, Knuckle answered instantly. “If he’s really so bad, I can also sometimes go there alone and check on him or bring him something if you can’t do it. After all, me being fine is just cause you all risked your life for me … basically.”

“And you risked your life for us”, Morel added. “And made some really stupid decisions. I can barely believe it worked out in the end. Anyway … Knov doesn’t really need more regular help. I’m often there for him, you know. And since he’s not scared to death anymore by seeing anything related to the Chimera Ants, Palm’s been visiting him often too. He’s drowning in chocolate and affection.” Morel laughed.

“So he’s a bit better after all?”, Knuckle asked, almost hanging over the front seat now.

“He has his ups and downs”, Morel explained. “It’s just me reaching my limits with caring for him.”

“I can imagine caring for someone psychologically ill drags down a person quite much.” Commented Shoot, who was basically silent up until now.

“Yeah.” Agreed Morel. “But I will not let him down.” His two boys smiled at that.

They always admired the relationship of Knov and Morel. They did not see too much into it, but they knew that before this fiasco with the Chimera Ants they often met, had sleepovers like teenagers and talked about who knows what the whole night, while watching a romantic comedy, or cuddling while watching a horror movie. They were as close as friends can get, really, and sometimes – or even often, Knuckle and Shoot could not really know that – they even brushed the line between friendship and something even more, but without any of it being awkward or unwanted. They both knew how horrible it must be for Morel to see Knov like this.

When they arrived, the apartment was way more luxurious than what they imagined from what Morel said. _Small apartment my ass_ , thought Knuckle, as he was already judging the size of the apartment around seventy square metres. Then again, he never visited Knov in his own apartment before – it could very well be twice the size of this one.

Knov looked better. He gained a little weight, and while he still insisted on wearing that ridiculous cap, they could see some short hair peeking out, growing back slowly. But he was still weak.

“Good to see you two.” He said when he saw his friend’s two students. “Especially you, Shoot.” Shoot only nodded, slightly blushing at the extra attention.

They were there with Knov for over two hours. They talked, laughed, and Knuckle even cried a little – which of course made Shoot tear up as well. When it was time to leave, the two youngest were very surprised when Morel said he will not join them.

“Take my car.” He said, as he threw the keys to Knuckle. “I will stay the night. Tomorrow I will go to your place with public transport and take it back.” Knuckle and Shoot looked at each other, both finding the situation strange and unexpected, but said nothing regarding it.

“So, what do you think?” asked Morel a few minutes after the saw them leaving from the window.

“Not yet.” Answered Knov. “But maybe in a month.”

“In a month? Are you crazy?!”

“I’m not. You are for betting lower than that.”

“I tell you. A week or two max and they are together”, Morel grinned. “I mean didn’t you see how they are looking at each other? And with living together and sleeping in the same bed, it’s a matter of days really.”

“Here I thought you knew your students … Shoot wouldn’t make the first step for at least another two months and Knuckle might remain completely oblivious to Shoot’s unspoken feelings and might not even realise his own emotions. You’d need to hit him on the head, telling him something like _“Goddammit, you’re in love with Shoot!”_ and then it would work. That’s forbidden of course.”

“It’s amazing how you’re completely your old self in moments like this”, Morel smiled. It was a relieved smile.

“I told you, I’m a bit better already.”

“Still, please look a bit more miserable in front of my boys. Otherwise we can’t really check up on them whether they are together or not.”

“Of course.” Knov looked around a bit, then turned on the TV, leaning back in his chair. “Will you stay for the night?”

“Sure I will. I told you!”

“Thought it might just be a façade in front of the boys in order to make them believe I feel so horrible you need to comfort me.”

“Don’t I need to comfort you? Here I am prepared with safety blanket and hugs and you don’t need any!”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t appreciate that”, Knov corrected. “You just don’t … **_need_** to comfort me anymore.”

“Oh, I see. Because you’re all better now. Except when you want your big comfy pillow to caress your back, then you’re suddenly feeling much worse.” Morel was of course joking, and both of them knew that, but Knov really did feel very bad sometimes. It usually came out of nowhere, and lasted for an hour or so, and it always made Morel’s heart ache.

They did not let themselves be consumed by such thoughts now, however. Ever since their mission ended, this was the first chance they got to do their regular sleepovers. Not to mention that today one of their favourite shows were back on TV – they _needed_ to watch that together.

Not to mention something else they did not have the chance to do in a while… Which will surely happen today as well.

“Anyway, how are you and Palm doing?” asked Morel while they cuddled on the sofa, under the ‘safety blanket’ he brought, Knov resting his head on a big, strong shoulder.

“What do you mean, how are we doing?”

“Well, did you fuck her yet?” Knov made a noise of annoyance. That made Morel smile.

“Are you still on about that? We made that bet years ago.”

“Does that make it invalid?”

“It does not. But you ask this every once in a while, and I thought I made it clear that I have no such intentions with her.”

“One can never know.” Knov rolled his eyes, and even though the other could not see that, he just knew that he did. He loved to annoy Knov with this, mostly because he reacted instantly.

“Besides…” continued Knov, a playful smile dancing at his lips. “Why would I look for a new sex partner when I have a perfectly good one already?”

“Just ‘perfectly good’?”

“What is wrong with my description?”

“You could leave the ‘good’ away from it.”

“Well, isn’t somebody a bit full of himself?”

“I am not full of myself, I just observe. And I observe you shaking in pleasure whenever we decide to have an escapade.”

“We did not have a chance to have sex in a while; maybe you can’t do that anymore.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You know it would be ridiculous to bet on that. It involves both of us and I could influence the outcome easily.”

“You’re so boring!”, Morel laughed, pulling the other closer. “Like … really!”

Knov didn’t react, just rested comfortably, enjoying the television. The other understood and fell silent as well. These moments were lovely – where Knov was feeling well and they just had a good time, which didn’t always involve the need for words.

After the show Morel got up, turning off the TV. It was dark outside before, but with the television switched off, the darkness suddenly became so evident and with the happy noises gone, everything drowning in silence, Knov pulled his safety blanket a little closer to his body.

“Hey, everything’s fine”, Morel spoke, knowing that he should have turned the light on before he switched off the TV. In hindsight one was always smarter.

With the light illuminating the whole room, Knov relaxed again, murmuring something that the other did that on purpose and earning a laugh from Morel.

“Go and brush your teeth or are you too scared to do that alone?” He earned a slipper to the head for that comment, returning it to the other’s foot, before saying: “Well, I’ll go first then and pre-warm your bed. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good.”

Morel walked away, waiting in the doorway and turning back. “Just one question. Should I wait in your bed naked?”

He did not get an answer for that in words, just a look that said ‘Well what do _you_ think?’.

When it was Knov’s turn to brush his teeth, he did the same routine he did ever since they came back – on his way to the bathroom he lit every light in every room he passed through, and on his way back he turned them off as he left them. He also did the same if he woke up during the night to get a drink or to go to the toilet – therefore he tried not to get up during the night. Once it caused him to pee his pyjama pants a little.

As he got back, Morel was, as he promised, pre-warming the bed. Completely naked, and completely ready for the next hour or so. Both of them needed this, after all. When Knov tried to lift the blanket to get underneath and next to Morel, the other tsked at him.

“No entry with clothes on.”

“Are you sure you want to see me naked in the light like this? I lost at least 10 kilos, my bones are sticking out…”

“If they are sticking out, I would be able to feel that anyway.” Morel tried to ease the subject, but Knov still seemed uncomfortable with undressing out in the open, with the light on. He just stood there, crumbling the edge of his t-shirt and looking away. He looked uncharacteristically shy and Morel could not help but hate the one responsible for putting the other in this state – hating him even in death.

After some time, he just reached out, grabbed Knov’s forearm gently, and squeezed it reassuringly. Thank God this seemed to be enough for now.

Morel, as a bit help, turned off the big light, and only left the tableside lamp on, which still illuminated enough, but Knov was not so much in the spotlight. As he took off his t-shirt and comfortable home pants, Morel could see the bones that were mentioned earlier. Since the younger actually put on weight ever since the incident, he could not even imagine how he must have looked before. Just thinking about it gave a squeezing sensation to his stomach.

After Knov managed to get completely naked, Morel smiled at him warmly, and a little flirty.

“I did not realise until now how much I missed this sight.”

Knov instinctively hugged his arms around himself, hiding his body a bit, then opened up again as if only realising now that the other had complimented him. He tried to come up with something witty to say, had a few lines in his head, but abandoned them, replacing them with a silent smile, when he slipped to the other underneath the blanket.

Their bodies pressed against each other, the warmth collecting under the blanket for some moments, just shared calmness, some time for Knov to calm himself, until he decided it was enough and he started placing soft kisses on Morel’s lips. That was the sign for the other to stop being passive as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoot is reading romance novels, and Knuckle is a peepin tom.

While Knuckle and Shoot were also lying in bed, they had a quite different night. After coming home, Knuckle had avoided to have his first cooking lesson by ordering pizza before Shoot could protest. The pizza was delicious though and even if Shoot scolded him at first, he seemed really happy that the other remembered exactly what his favourite kind of pizza was. Some watching TV and playing with the girls later they ended up in bed next to each other in their nightclothes.

Shoot made a mental note that he should buy a nightshirt for himself for the time being. Or maybe they could go to his place tomorrow and he could pick up a few things. He decided to suggest it in the morning.

Knuckle’s well-intentioned breakfast that he brought to bed was beneath Shoot’s taste, but he just made a mental note on the too well cooked egg and the slightly burned toast and smiled. It wasn’t so bad and after he was done instructing Knuckle how to cook, the problem would be gone anyway. At least the coffee was perfect, which was mostly because of the coffee machine.

After this Shoot suggested his idea about going to his place to pick some things up. Given that they still had Morel’s car, it would be an easy and quick trip. They could also tank it, given that they are using it for a trip that was not planned. They of course called Morel beforehand, asking him if it was alright. He was not in a good mood, as he was woken up by the call, and Knuckle could hear Knov murmuring something as well. From the curses they figured it’s fine if they use the car.

Knuckle was of course in Shoot’s apartment several times by now, even though they usually met up at Knuckle’s place mostly, for some reason. The place was the polar opposite of Knuckle’s. He had a smallish, comfortable ‘hole’, as he called it, cosy and warm, with occasional chaos and dirt here and there. Shoot’s apartment was even smaller, but one could see as they stepped in that the space was cleverly used, and much thinking was put into the furnishing and the colours, so that it looks bigger and brighter. Also, it was clean. It was always clean. Whenever Knuckle was there, it looked like Shoot just cleaned the day before. Now, of course, there was an unhealthy amount of dust on everything, given that the owner was not home for an extended period of time. Needless to say, this bothered mentioned owner not just a little.

“Shoot, seriously, don’t start to clean now…”

“When should I clean then?”

“When you’re better! Ok?! I will even help you, but now we are just here for your clothes and stuff!” being not too convinced, but still obliging, Shoot opened his drawer, revealing his set of clothing. Knuckle’s eyes went wide. “Why do you have so many clothes?” Shoot flushed up a little in embarrassment.

“What do you mean…?”

“I have, like, half of that. If even. How much of this do you want to bring with yourself…?!”

“W-why is this much…? Winter clothes, summer clothes… In-between season clothes… F-formal…”

“Jesus Christ, Shoot, you’re worse than a woman.” Now this made Shoot’s face completely red.

“Says the guy spending hours in the bathroom, putting products in his hair…” he retorted silently, and Knuckle wouldn’t even have heard it, if he was not silent at the moment.

“What’s so bad about that, huh?”, Knuckle retorted with twice the volume.

“I didn’t say it was bad”, Shoot explained. “Just if you make this comparison about me and my clothes, I thought I might make one too.”

“Whatever”, was what Knuckle settled then for, knowing it was true after all, “all I’m concerned about is how we should fit that in my closet.”

“Well, we don’t need all of my clothes anyway, the summer clothes can stay here and I doubt we need any formal clothes neither. If you want I can also leave most of my winter clothes here and in case I stay longer with you, we can pick up more winter clothes as well.”

“Oh yeah.” While this reaction seemed like Knuckle didn’t consider that Shoot would only need part of his clothes, it was actually another thought that he only realised now. Shoot wouldn’t be staying for too long. In hindsight he wasn’t sure how the thought had come to his mind, but in his head Shoot would have been with him forever … or at least a year or two. But considering that his leg already had some time to heal and wouldn’t need years to get better, it made Knuckle kind of sad. And he felt horrible because what kind of terrible friend wished his best friend that he wouldn’t be able to walk normally anytime soon.

They packed everything that Shoot needed. Not just clothes, but also a few boxes went to the car and Knuckle couldn’t help, but peek what was inside.

Well, in one of them were

… books. Of course many non-fiction books, some that Knuckle found interesting too, but looking to the bottom of it there were some … weird ones. Knuckle blinked twice before he could believe what he understood from the cover and the title.

“You … read cheap romance novels?”, Knuckle asked out loud, not considering that he just admitted looking through Shoot’s stuff without permission.

The reaction to that was a tomato red face, and Shoot basically racing there with his wheelchair and snatching the book from Knuckle’s hand. He put it back into the box, closed it, and then closed the rear trunk with such force and speed, that Knuckle feared that a couple of his fingers would be cut off, if he was not fast enough to move away. After that, Shoot rolled to the front passenger seat, stood up and sat inside, closing the door with similar force. Knuckle hoped that Morel’s car would be okay after all of this…

After Knuckle woke up from his trance which was caused by Shoot’s surprisingly out of character passive aggression, he closed the wheelchair and put it to the backseat, before getting in the car himself and driving them back home. Not even a word was spoken during the ride, and Shoot just looked outside the window the whole time. Knuckle could only see some of his red ears when he turned towards the other.

He realised it the moment that he did something wrong. Apart from the fact that he looked through the other hunter’s stuff without his consent to it, he should not have confronted him with his discovery. People like what they like, and that’s that. Cheap romance novels are not any worse than some of the mindless action movies Knuckle likes to watch.

But still… Shoot and romance novels?

Then again, he could just imagine him sitting in his bed, wearing a fuzzy bathrobe, blanket over his shoulders, a bucket of ice-cream next to him, and the book on the other side.

_Oh my God, that must look so cute!_

Now Knuckle could feel himself being flushed a little bit, and his mind wandering off a little, imagining the bathrobe being partially open revealing Shoot’s chest and… Shit, the light is red!

“Knuckle!”, Shoot exclaimed, talking unexpectantly because he was fearing for a crash with another car. Thankfully that didn’t happen and while there was some honking from the other cars around, he quickly fled the scene, hoping no policeman had spotted this.

“Sorry”, Knuckle reacted, rounding his apology off with an awkward laugh.

“I don’t want to go back to the hospital”, Shoot explained, his voice trembling and him grasping the handrail tightly with his right hand.

“Hey, I’m not such a bad driver, okay. And this was an accident – and no one got hurt, not even the car got damaged.

Not particularly reassured by this answer, Shoot continued to grasp the handrail, being tense the whole way until they arrived at Knuckle’s home again. As a result, he could feel the tension in his muscles when he got out. Still, he insisted taking care of his boxes, seeing what happened if he left Knuckle alone with them.

After everything was stored away, Shoot lied down in bed and after walking through his own place almost aimlessly for a bit, Knuckle joined him, smiling towards the other.

“So, want something to eat?”

“Sure, I will tell you how to do everything”, Shoot smiled. To be honest he would have preferred to lie a bit longer, but he decided that sitting in the wheelchair in the kitchen, while Knuckle was cooking, sounded fine too. He could take a nice warm shower after eating and then lie back down and relax.

“Good, what will we make?”

“Remember the red cabbage that we bought?”

“The red cabbage that is violet?”, Knuckle guessed, not understanding why it was called red cabbage anyway.

“Yes. We will make something nice with that.” And something not too complicated to start off in order to not discourage the other.

After an hour of complaining from Knuckle – such complaints as why it was not alright to just cut the cabbage instead of grating it, or why it was such a problem that he put too much oil to the meat – the food was done, and it turned out pretty good too. Knuckle was actually very surprised that he was the one who made this.

“This is awesome!” he expressed his adoration towards the food in words, too. “What will we make tomorrow?”

“Onion crème soup.”

“Onion… crème…? Sounds a tad fancy.”

“Everything is fancy to _you_ , I guess.” Knuckle could sense out the subtle insult, but he did not get angry about it. He knew that Shoot was most probably still sour because of the book.

“Hey… I’m really sorry about the book. You can read whatever the hell you want, you know, it’s okay!” Shoot turned away. “You… You can have your hobbies. I also have some hobbies. And if it makes you feel good, then do them, God damn it! Don’t get discouraged by such idiots like me!” To that Shoot smiled softly, but Knuckle could not see it while the other was still turning away.

“And…” the shorter continued “You’re pretty much amazing. You could make tapestry in your free time, and it would still be cool, you see? Because… Just simply because you’re the one doing it.” Shoot finally looked back at his friend, knowing well that everything he said came straight from his heart. As he looked at him, with slightly flushed cheeks, he could see Knuckle trying to look for more words to say, but not always being able to find them.”I do not know anyone like you. Anyone so nice, and gentle, and unbelievably strong and brave at the same time… Sure you have your shy moments, but who doesn’t, I guess? You might have a bit more though… But still… You’re just… simply amazing, and I absolutely love you.” Knuckle realised what he have said a millisecond after saying it, and he also knew that there was no way out of it now.

He could not just start explaining how he only meant it as a friend, frantically, waving his arms around and laughing nervously. That would only make everything more awkward, not to mention that he liked to imagine that Shoot would accept and reciprocate his love one day – if he corrected himself now, that he meant it merely as a friend, Shoot would never show any feelings of the romantic kind towards him out of fear and embarrassment.

The sat there, food half finished, looking at each other and not uttering a word, for several minutes. Knuckle was studying his friend’s face the whole time, looking for little changes which can only be noticed this up close, any small sign that would show how he felt about hearing this, what conclusion did he get from it. The taller one was just about to say something, opening his mouth slightly, simply whispering:

“Knuckle…” before they were both scared out of their pants by the noise of the intercom. Surely, it was Morel to pick his car up.

Knuckle volunteered to take care of everything, gave Morel back the car keys and felt insulted when Morel checked if there were any scratches in his car, pointing out that he was an amazing driver and wouldn’t ruin the car.

“Alright, alright. Oh, by the way, I have something for you two.” Morel held out a plastic bag, which the other took, looking inside a bit confused.

“Knov forgot to mention it yesterday, but he got way more chocolate and cookies from Palm than he could eat – also with him not feeling so well – so he insisted I take some away. And I thought I’d pass it on to the two of you.” Also it didn’t count as cheating and by now he was a bit desperate with his bet.

There were three colourful present boxes of chocolate and one plastic box of seemingly homemade cookies inside and it all looked really nice.

Without realising it, they stood together a bit outside, much longer than necessary, just talking a bit and Morel asking how Shoot really was without him standing next to them. After Knuckle explained how well the other was and that he had to insist on the wheelchair most of the time, Morel felt relieved. This outcome couldn’t be taken for granted after the doctors had reconstructed one whole leg.

After Morel had driven off, Knuckle went back to his apartment, hearing that Shoot was showering. Unsure about what had happened before he took his still half full plate with himself and lying down in bed, switching on the TV to distract him, dropping the plastic bag next to him. He didn’t even care what was shown on TV as long as it could calm him down. He really hoped he hadn’t seemed weird in front of Morel, but he could hold himself back nicely, so it was probably fine.

After a good fifteen minutes, Shoot was still not back from the shower, and Knuckle could still hear the water running. He could not decide whether Shoot really felt _that_ dirty, or maybe he slipped in the shower and can’t get up, and is too embarrassed about his nakedness to call for help. He did not hear a ‘thud’ sound which usually comes with someone falling in the shower cabin, but then again he was watching the TV relatively loud. He was not sure if he should check up on him or not, and was battling with these thoughts for a good minute or so, before deciding to see what was wrong.

Now there are two things one should know about Knuckle’s bathroom – one is that the door opens right, and the other is that the shower is also on the right side of the quite small bathroom. These circumstances made it perfect for anyone to peek at another while showering, without being noticed at all, given that just a little opening of the door would already allow a full view. There is a third thing, perhaps, that is not bad if one knows about if they’re having peeping purposes, was that the walls of Knuckle’s shower cabin were semi-transparent, not hiding much while dry and absolutely not hiding anything while wet. Anyone could notice, thinking about these three facts, that it was the paradise of peeping toms – given that there were any peeping toms around, of course.

Knuckle was definitely not a peeping tom. He just wanted to check if everything was fine, really… Just looking in a little bit, so if that things turned out to be fine, Shoot would not be embarrassed about being seen naked. Knuckle knew that he would get a heart attack. But what he saw turned him into not only a temporary peeping tom, but also into a temporary _and_ _horny_ peeping tom.

There was Shoot, his back firmly set at the tiled wall, the front of his body turned just in the right angle for Knuckle to see everything – and what an everything that was!

Shoot with a hard on, masturbating with closed eyes.

_Ohmyohmyohmyohmy_ ….

Knuckle was literally frozen in place and even if he had wanted, he could not convince his eyes to leave this sight. He started to breathe a bit harder himself, which was thankfully inaudible with the shower running. This sight incomparably aroused him and he gripped the doorframe a little harder than necessary when he saw the other finish with a moan silenced by one of his nen hands pressed to his mouth. The hand quickly returned to going through his hair and when he swiftly cleaned himself off with moving around the showerhead, Knuckle unfroze and he realised he should probably retreat quickly and silently – which he did.

Knuckle hid under the blanket in his bed, trying to look interested at the TV in order not to seem suspicious of any peeping or anything like that. He would have preferred very much to take care of his own problem caused by those pictures of Shoot masturbating which burned themselves in his head, but he probably needed for his own turn to shower with that.

When Shoot returned, wrapped tightly and securely in his bathrobe, already wearing home pants underneath, Knuckle stared at the TV unnaturally intensely and Shoot took a few seconds to figure out why that program was even remotely interesting. In those few seconds Knuckle scrambled together an incoherent sentence that should have said how he wanted to shower too and that it was his turn now. With the word shower being one of the more obvious ones Shoot pieced together what the other had meant, but when he looked back to the bed, Knuckle was already out of the room and only an empty plate and a bag that he didn’t see before were remaining.

The next thing he could hear was the shower being turned on. Shoot sighed, and picked up the empty plate to bring it to the kitchen, along with his half-finished food that he put into the microwave to eat it later. After that, he went back to the room, and was wondering if he was allowed to look inside the bag.

By the time Knuckle was done – with both showering and jerking off – Shoot was already completely dressed, and lying under the blanket on his side of the bed, looking at something on his phone while the TV was still turned on, the volume taken down a bit. The shorter man appeared with just a towel around his waist, and seemed less tense and more relaxed than Shoot has ever seen him before, really. Seems like the shower did him good.

“What is that bag?” Shoot asked, pointing at the bag into which he did not dare to look in.

“Oh, Morel brought it. It’s from Knov – he had too much chocolate and cookies, so he gave us some. You can look inside.” Now Shoot was really interested, for the sole reason that he knew those cookies were surely home-made. Shoot was an intelligent man, but one did not really needed to be a genius to figure out that Knov got all of these things from Palm – which meant that it was surely herself who made the cookies.

They have spent the next hour or so lying in bed, eating cookies and watching TV. The sweet delicacies were so good; they could not stop eating it. It was a nice, soft cake with honey-cream filling, and probably the best thing they ever ate, hands down.

After that, Knuckle turned off the TV, as nothing interesting was there anymore, and was at a loss of words or actions, still fearing that things might get awkward because of his previous comment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Morel and Knov come up with an idea to have their bet checked, and Morel does some private investigating on his own.

Meanwhile Morel arrived back at Knov, who managed to convince him – not that there were much convincing needed – to stay one more night. Morel knew that this ‘one more night’ will turn into at least three more, so he brought enough fresh clothes and underwear.

“I think I am close to winning.” He announced as he arrived.

“Oh really?” came the answer from the bathroom, where Knov stepped out in bathrobe, just finished with showering himself. “What makes you think so?”

“Oh, you should have seen Knuckle. He tried to hide it, but he was never really good at that… Something is already in motion, I’m telling you!”

“I never doubted that”, the other reacted. “Something might be in motion, but one of them needs to take a step forward.”

“But listen, I’m talking about Knuckle! He is looking all emotional – and I don’t mean his usual emotional, but his “I’m so in love with Shoot”-emotional. That means they are both into each other!”

“That doesn’t mean anything”, Knov stated. “First of all, you don’t know if both of them are actually interested in each other like that and secondly, even if they are, Shoot won’t speak up and Knuckle might fear to hurt the other and keep silent because of that.”

“Don’t be a sore loser. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already lying in bed, kissing and telling each other how much they love each other.”

“Well, you need proof of that”, Knov retorted, walking off to the kitchen.

“Yeah, about that. Any idea how we should manage that?”, Morel asked, following the other and looking over his shoulder as he put up some water to boil for tea. “I mean they’re surely getting together within this week or next, what I’m asking is what you will accept as proof. Is a confession by Knuckle enough?”

“Of course not”, Knov reacted. “By the way, do you want some tea?”

“Sure. You have something to eat too?”

Knov pointed towards the fridge. “Pick anything you want. It can be heated again in the microwave.”

Spotting two rows of plastic boxes, Morel peeked into some of them, deciding all looked good, before choosing one randomly in order to surprise himself. “Okay, and what proof is good enough?” In the few seconds Knov needed to answer, Morel opened the microwave, put in the box and started to heat it up – two minutes should be fine, he thought.

“Video proof.” Morel stopped in motion for a moment. Did he hear that right? Did Knov actually meant what he thought he meant?

“What…?”

“Video proof.”

“Of them… doing what, exactly?” Morel straightened up, his spine being as straight as possible, his chest pushed out – he would have looked threatening to anyone else, but Knov knew that this posture was mostly used when he was confused, but tried to look in control of the situation. Knov smiled.

“Kissing, making out, sucking each other off…” Knov spoke as if he was talking about the weather, and shrugged. “Things like that. Ah, the water is boiling.” The turned the stove off, and carefully poured the hot water into the pot, which already had two bags of green tea inside.

“And you really think they would do anything like that in front of a camera?”

“Not if they _know about the camera_ , of course.” Now Morel completely understood what the other meant.

“You can’t be serious…”

“We are betting in a lot of money, of course I am.”

“I will not violate their privacy like that!”

“No one else needs to see just us. Besides, if they would be about to have sex, they would kiss first, no? We will stop watching then, erase everything, and if the kiss happened within the next two weeks, you won. How else do you want to figure this out?” just when Knov finished his sentence, the ‘ping’ of the microwave signalled that Morel’s food is ready to eat, but he could not care less about it at the moment. He was thinking about what Knov have proposed.

He was right, of course, there was absolutely no other way to get proof, not a way that both of them would accept at least. A video proof was always one of the surest, and Knov promised he would not look at more than what was necessary. He thought himself crazy for even considering this…

“Or we can look at the whole thing, if you get your kinks out of that.” Added Knov as he put everything away, and put out two mugs for the tea. This dark sense of humour that both of them shared made Morel smile and laugh slightly.

“Or maybe it is you who gets his kinks out of it?”

“Well, no denying that both of them are quite attractive, I wouldn’t really mind seeing it. But I think both of our sense of morality would not allow it. We would really just watch as much as necessary.”

“Okay, then next question: How the hell should I put secret cameras inside of Knuckle’s apartment without them noticing?”

“It’s not so tricky. You can ask them to come here and visit me, then you excuse yourself for a bit and place the cameras while I distract them. Or if you tell me in advance where I should put them, you just take them out for dinner and I…”

“And I should just do a one and a half hour drive back and forth without being suspicious? Also, I don’t really want you to be alone in a place you’re not used to put up the cameras yourself.”

“Obviously, you didn’t understand. Remember that portal that I put up to Knuckle’s apartment together with Palm because she told me Knuckle barely got any sleep?”

Suddenly it dawned upon Morel. “It’s still there, isn’t it?”

“Precisely. You know the portals are not visible unless someone walks through. And I never bothered removing this one.”

“You planned this all through, when you put up this portal, didn’t you?”, Morel grinned.

“You hurt me with that accusation.”

“Do I? Because you wouldn’t do anything for my benefit to win the bet – is that why I should be suspicious?”

“I felt sorry for Knuckle, you know. No doubt he would have spent four hours every day to get to Shoot and go back home.”

“Yes, he would have. If Shoot would have been six hours away, then he would have camped in front of the hospital, just so that he can be with him as long as he needed.” While saying this, Morel realised how much in love Knuckle must be. How deep this must run, how much affection he has to give to that man… He teared up a little, thinking about it. Thank God he was wearing his sunglasses still, and Knov saw nothing of it. Now that he thinks about it… he does want to see that amazing, lovely, one in a lifetime moment, when these two would confess, would kiss for the first time, and would hug while crying and saying ‘I love you’ to each other over and over again. He suddenly remembered the first time he had sex with Knov – was way less romantic, with no tears at all, but it was special, and lovely, and was good enough to make them try something more than just being friends. And it works out flawlessly so far.

“Morel?” Knov spoke up again. “Will you eat your food or not?”

“Oh, yes… I just…”

“Just?”

“I love you, you know?” Knov blinked a few and looked taken aback for some seconds, before reacting with words.

“I… I know, you say it quite often. Any particular line of thought that made you say that just now?”

“Doesn’t matter… Alright. Let’s do this with the cameras. But you will install them, I am clumsy with these small things.”

Knov smiled softly as an answer.

The next morning, at Knuckle’s place, it was Shoot once again who woke up first, and he was happy about that, because he wanted to make breakfast this time. Not that he did not appreciate what Knuckle did – or try to do, at least – but it was absolutely and completely inedible, and he would rather have eaten bread with nothing than that.

And now he feels bad for thinking that.

He returned with breakfast to the bed, everything was placed neatly on a salver and then he realised that he should wake up Knuckle first. So he carried the salver back to the table and returned to the bed, looking at the other. He was still deep asleep.

“Knuckle, wake up!”, he whispered softly from a close distance. It did not work of course.

Shoot added soft caresses to the other’s shoulder and face. He waited a bit. Nothing.

“Knuckle?”, Shoot tried again. Then he decided to take off the blanket from the other. As much as Knuckle went to sleep with pyjama, his sleeves and trouser legs always rolled up during the night, not to mention that his top went up to reveal his stomach and most of his chest. Surely like this he would wake up from the cold.

After trying to grab back the blanket in his half-asleep state, he opened his eyes a little and a few seconds later he understood. And a few minutes later both sat in bed with salvers and a nice breakfast, enjoying it together.

“You know I should cook!”, Knuckle explained after eating half of the food.

“I thought I’d make an exception with breakfast, since you did so well.” He smiled.

“Ah, this is so great! Like … I never made this nice breakfast for me. Just the coffee really.”

After eating in silence the two sat together and while Shoot was thinking about what had happened yesterday, he glanced towards Knuckle. Was he thinking about that too? Should something be said? Who should say something anyway? Probably he since Knuckle already presented his emotions, but Shoot was just unable to bring up the subject. But surely Knuckle was already thinking about it and if he would just mention it again then Shoot could join the conversation and tell the other that yes, he loved him too. It wouldn’t get awkward … hopefully. Shoot felt himself sweating.

“So, what do you wanna do today? I mean apart from teaching me how to cook.”

Shoot hadn’t expected that and just stared at the other as if he had said something strange.

“But no crazy stuff. We can go out, but ya stay in your wheelchair at most times, okay? Oh wait, shouldn’t you go to the hospital every few days or so?” – at this point he actually noticed Shoot’s expression – “oh shit, did we miss that? When was it? Is it okay if you miss one appointment or so? Was it today morning? Can we still make it?”

Shoot didn’t react for some seconds, then opened his mouth and closed it again without a word.

Meanwhile Knuckle jumped up to get dressed, screaming they needed to get to the hospital and he scrambled through his closet and stripped down and while Shoot usually would have collected himself enough to explain the situation to Knuckle, he just gulped down at the sight of Knuckle getting even more undressed than usual and his face flushed up.

“Come on, hurry up!” shouted Knuckle, standing there in his underwear, and Shoot got so red, he needed to hide his face with his hand. “Oh, Shoot… Did I shout too loud? Don’ cry, I’m sure it’s okay if we are a bit late from the hospital, I am so sorry, I just…” At that point Shoot started to shake his head, and Knuckle calmed down a bit, now that he knew the other was no crying.

“I don’t need to go to the hospital today…” Shoot finally managed to say, as the sight of Knuckle’s muscled body was not playing around with his head and thoughts. Knuckle let out a sigh.

“Oh… Thanks God.”

“I marked the days and time on your calendar, actually.”

“Oh.”

“Could you… put on something?” Knuckle was quite surprised at that comment, until Shoot needed to take his hand away a little to breath better. Then he saw his flushed face – and it was not from embarrassment. Knuckle knew Shoot and his blushes quite well by now, and whenever he was embarrassed, the blush usually spread to his ears. When it was something else, it spread to his neck and chest.

Knuckle grinned.

“Oh, so I should put something on, then? Am I too sexy for your innocent eyes?” he asked teasingly, and started to flex in ridiculous poses, which Shoot did not find that attractive anymore, at all actually. It helped so that he could speak more clearly while still looking at his partner – the blush did not go away though.

“With all honesty, I’ve seen better.” He replied, trying to be stingy.

“Did you now? Well I doubt anyone would make you blush so much, apart from me and my perfect body.” Knuckle meant it as a joke, but he had absolute no idea how close he was to the truth. Or maybe he had an idea, and said it because of that? Shoot was not sure.

Shoot returned to his usual tactic when he was unsure in interpreting what was going on in other people. He wrapped himself in silence and looked some more since his blush was already bad enough – it couldn’t get much worse.

“Hey, you’re okay?”, Knuckle then asked, a bit concerned, and Shoot nodded.

“I’m fine, but you should still get dressed though.”

“Ah, you know me, I can be half naked outside in winter and I wouldn’t get ill!”

While that was debateable, it was a fact that Knuckle had a habit of fighting half naked, even if it was just training. Shoot really appreciated that the other usually wore clothes when they were together in private. Except … now. He put on home pants and walked around as if that fulfilled the other’s request. Did he do it on purpose?

While Shoot was thinking much about the other, what he was probably thinking, while also sorting his own emotions, the day just continued and if asked he probably couldn’t say what they did. Looking around brought some clues though of cooking and going for a walk (the only time when Knuckle actually put on more clothes), some tea and now after a warm shower Shoot was lying in bed naked, wrapped in blankets, reading one of his romance novels and having one of Palm’s praline boxes next to him. He felt safe and happy.

The reason Shoot actually did all of this was because he had been called by Morel that they should join him. He said they’d have a nice dinner together and maybe stop by at a nice bar afterwards to have some more time to chat. Shoot decided not to go, telling Knuckle he felt bad, which he accepted immediately. Surely Morel would also understand.

The actual reason was though that he felt uncomfortable and he knew Morel would notice and he’d joke about it and even though it would be all meant nice and playful, Shoot would want to sink under the restaurant table in his embarrassment and flush up bright red all over to his ears. This was the best solution and he loved this time alone anyway.

Meanwhile, Morel and Knuckle were sitting in a restaurant, where both of them were eating medium-rare steaks. They spend the first fifteen minutes or so in complete silence, and Knuckle felt weird under Morel’s stare. It was as if he wanted to notice something about Knuckle, something unusual or out of place. It creeped Knuckle out.

When they already ate at least a quarter of their steaks and French fries, the younger decided to speak up.

“Morel… What the hell is it?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Ya wanna ask something then ask… Don’t just look at me like a creep the whole evening, I’m starting to wish I did not accept the invitation neither.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“The hell you don’t!” this exclamation of course had half of the other guests eyes at them, and Knuckle pulled in his neck and looked as apologetic as possible. “You’ve been acting a little weird at Knov’s place, too. And to be completely honest, Knov did not look half as bad as you described him to be. Did you two have a bet going on, regarding me?!” _The kid has way more brain then I’m giving him credit to sometimes_ , thought Morel. He was actually thinking about telling him the truth, just because he was impressed that he almost figure it all out – almost, because the bet was not only about him, but about Shoot as well. He was actually quite disappointed that he did not come, but he understood that he was still getting better from his hospitalization experience.

“You know, I’m glad you met him when he was feeling good. He has his ups and downs and you don’t want to see him when he’s really bad.” It wasn’t as bad anymore, but still there were sometimes spontaneous outbursts of anxiety and just thinking about these made Morel feel nervous himself. “And since you’re so clever, yes, there is something I’ve been wondering about.”

“What is it?”

“Are you and Shoot together?”

Knuckle flushed up a bit, his face twisting into an expression that would’ve scared any child away. “What the hell? I mean …. No! How’d ya come up with that?!”

“But you’re dating”, Morel grinned, being relieved with seeing the other react like that because it meant that Knuckle was head over heels in love with Shoot and he realised it too.

“N-no…”

“No?” He paused, forming an expression of surprise, before returning to his usual grin again. “But you were obviously dating since after the mission – I mean you basically camped at his bedside.”

“That wasn’t dating!”, Knuckle clarified. “I was just worried about him and … someone needed to look out for him.”

“I could’ve sworn you two kissed then, in all those weeks.”

“No, we … never kissed!” Knuckle gulped, wondering if he had shouted that too loud or sounded too obviously disappointed.

“Hey, it’s alright, I don’t wanna make you feel uncomfortable.” He really didn’t. Not more than necessary at least. Okay maybe a bit for entertainment. But he really cared for his students and only wanted their best. And that they got together.

Knuckle nodded. “So, was that it? Was that the best going on? Whether we kissed? Cause we didn’t.”

“You didn’t.” Morel repeated, with a small smile.

“We didn’t, are you deaf?”

“You sound disappointed.” Knuckle was just about to answer something to that, but Morel continued to talk rather quickly, not giving time for the younger to collect his thoughts into a sentence. “Anyway, the bet is not on whether you two kissed.”

“Oh really, then what? Whether we held hands? Went on romantic dinners together? Fed each other strawberries?” _Actually, these all sound so nice…_ Thought Knuckle, trying not to show his disappointment even more.

“No. But did you do those?”

“NO!” This was yet again way too loud for the restaurant, and once again everyone was looking at them. The waiters seemed to whisper with each other – Knuckle had a feeling that if he starts to shout again, he will be thrown out. He needs to control himself.

“The bet is on sex.”

“…What?”

“Sex, I said. Quite specific details of it actually.”

“…Why are you betting on our sex-life in detail…?!”

“You can’t just bet on vague things, Knuckle, where’s the challenge in that?”

“Why are you betting in general..?!”

“Because Knov, ahm… Ships you two. Is that the right word?” Knuckle wanted to smash the table, and shout at the top of his lungs. These two are taking betting way too far! Betting on his sex life with Shoot in detail… What details exactly…?

“You wanna know?” asked Morel. Did Knuckle say his thoughts out loud. “Knov has a bet going on which says that out of the two of you, it will be Shoot who will give a blow-job first.” Knuckle’s throat went dry at the thought. “And I have a bet going on that you will give one first. We have others too, like who will top first, who would mess up putting the condom on…”

“And how, pray tell, did you plan on finding these things out…?!”

“We could not have found out all of them, per se. That’s why we bet on many things.”

“You two are horrible”, Knuckle whispered, but with an undertone that was as if he had shouted it – just more silent really.

“I’m sorry, but you asked”, Morel answered, grinning at Knuckle having turned quite a bit red. He sure hoped those ideas had started the other’s thoughts in a good way – a way that would benefit Morel’s side of the bet.

The rest of the dinner was as awkward as to be expected, but somehow by the end they could even talk normally again and joke as usual. After what he put Knuckle through Morel paid before the other had a chance to say anything and as they were walking out to the cool night air, the embarrassing subject from before seemed long forgotten. That is until Knuckle took a deep breath and said: “Just promise me one thing – that you will never tell Shoot anything about your stupid bets.”

“I promise I won’t. You know I care about him too.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoot and Knuckle talk like adults, Morel and Knov find something new to bet on.

When Knuckle came home Shoot was of course back in homeclothes and had stored away his book. Just the sweets were still lying around obviously.

“How was it?”

“Yeah, fine”, Knuckle answered, trying to sound as casual as he could manage, shrugging his shoulders to underline his answer.

Shoot noticed, but decided not to mention anything.

They did not do much for the rest of the evening – since Knuckle ate out, Shoot already cooked something for himself, so the cooking together was postponed this day. Knuckle, however, could not get Morel’s words out of his thoughts.

He thought about Shoot in a sexual way before – more than one time, actually. But now he had actual images in his head. Shoot being between his legs, sucking him off, while looking up at him, face flushed, eyes sparkling with lust and excitement... Shoot tearing s condom open with his teeth and putting it on Knuckle’s penis, before turning around and presenting his backside… These images together with the memory of Shoot jerking off in the shower were more than enough for him to handle, and he was forced to take a quite long cold shower in the middle of the night. Thank God Shoot did not wake up to it.

The next days were spent in a similar fashion, except that Shoot was often alone for a few hours, as Knuckle was forced to start training with Morel again. And, there was a new addition to Knuckle’s daily routine – he was peeping on Shoot showering every day.

At first he was saying to himself that this is not some creepy, perverted peeping, just healthy sexual curiosity. But he knew deep down that he was waiting for an image he already saw once – Shoot being wet all over, and jerking himself off, his face showing the beautiful and immensely sexy signs of pleasure and gratification. He was quite ashamed of these peepings, but he could not help it. He only hoped he would not be noticed.

Little did he know that Shoot also peeped sometimes – much rarer than Knuckle, of course, given that he did not always had the bravery to do so.

And little did both of them knew, that the cameras and microphones were installed in the apartment almost 3 days ago, and both Morel and Knov saw their little, perverted sides, looking at each other masturbating under the warm water. They could not understand how either of them did not just grab the other and smashed their lips together already. Even Knov would have been okay with losing the bet right now, because this was so pathetic and awkward, even for the ones watching.

However, there were still 4 days left until the end of the bet, so if they did not grow some not-so-literal balls then he would still watch this dancing around for 4 days, and he was not sure if he was prepared for that.

By the time that had passed already a few things had changed visibly though. For example Knuckle was getting better at cooking and Shoot got a nice breakfast without making it himself. And after eating breakfast together Knuckle would leave for training and Shoot would usually nap back, mostly lying on the other’s side, cuddling into the warm blanket and pillow that smelled as if Knuckle was still lying there, hugging him.

During training Morel had to resist the urge to shout at Knuckle how stupid he was and that he should just go up to Shoot and kiss him. He eventually sent the other home, giving him the rest of the day off after just half the usual training because he was so frustrated himself.

With this unexpected free time Knuckle found himself wandering around a bit and before he knew it he was picking out a present for Shoot. When he stood in line for paying the thought began to dawn on him that he just bought the other a present for absolutely no reason. He wasn’t sure why, but on the verge of overthinking it, he also bought some lunch next to it. It wouldn’t make any more sense like that, but that didn’t change that Knuckle was going home with two bags and barely any idea what he should say to Shoot.

Coming home Shoot was making lunch for himself. At the sound of Knuckle opening the door he quickly thought whether it would be possible to bring the wheelchair or his crutches there in order not to make Knuckle feel worried, but it wouldn’t be possible.

“Did you eat already?”, Shoot asked, glancing out of the kitchen, hoping for an opportunity if Knuckle went to the bathroom first.

“I bought lunch for us. I bought some of that Sushi that you really like!”

Shoot froze midway to the bedroom and curiously looked over to the bags that were standing around. Knuckle was in the bedroom by now, switching into his home clothing. Shoot of course saw that there was not only sushi, but he knew Knuckle would tell him what he bought. He never really keeps anything to himself.

As he was standing there, looking at the bags, Knuckle came back and saw Shoot standing without any aid whatsoever.

“Shoot!” he kind-of-shouted, and Shoot got so scared that he even jumped a little, grasping at his heart. “Your wheelchair!”

“Knuckle… It’s hard to move around with it, and I’m fine.”

“They told you at your last therapy too that you should use at least the crutches!” This was another new thing – Knuckle going with Shoot to his therapies, not trusting the taller with keeping the instructions they give him there. Knuckle could understand him – he really could. If he was in the same shoes, he would most probably be also annoyed with the wheelchair and the crutches, and would not give a damn about what some over cautious doctors are saying. But with Shoot he was a third person, so he saw things more reasonably.

“They tickle my armpits…” Shoot said, with a bit embarrassment and a slight pink blush. Knuckle thought it to be adorable.

“Then lie down, and just let me carry you around. Either that or the crutches! If neither, then I will not give you the present I bought for you!” Knuckle winked, as he passed Shoot to pick up the bags from the foyer, then went straight back to the livingroom. Shoot sighed, turned off the fire from under his lunch, which will most probably dinner now, grabbed his crutches and followed Knuckle inside, where the sushi was already laid out.

“Morel let me go earlier.” Started to explain the shorter “So, I thought… Why not surprise you with some nice lunch? Also… “ with that, Knuckle was picking up the other bag, and holding it nervously. “I just happened to see this and thought of you… You can tell me if you hate it, and then I will bring it back.”

“I did not even see it yet… Don’t be so negative.” Shoot smiled, and blushed a deeper colour, as he always did when he received presents.

“I know you like turtlenecks… And the ones you have look amazing, of course, but… But I think they are a bit thin for the weather. So I got you this.” He finally reached into the bag, and pulled out a black, knitted turtleneck pullover, and it was the fluffiest thing Shoot has ever seen. He sat down to the couth, and reached out to take the piece of

clothing from Knuckle.

“So soft…” he whispered.

“It’s cashmere.”

“Cash--- Knuckle, this must have costed a fortune!”

“It was okay… Did I get your size right?” Shoot looked inside to see the sizing – M.

“Yes, you did.”

“Good.” Knuckle also started to blush a little, and scratched the back of his neck. “It’s uh, it’s not like your other turtlenecks. This might look too big, but it’s supposed to be like that – it’s baggy and warm… and fluffy. Wanna, ahm… Wanna try it on?”

“Yes, of course”, Shoot reacted, retreating to the bedroom for a moment and coming back in his new fluffy pullover. And Shoot looked even cuter in it than Knuckle had imagined. He stared at the sight, realised it might be a bit too long staring when Shoot cleared his throat demonstratively and continued to tell the other how lovely he looked and whether it fitted, which it obviously did and many more questions that Shoot couldn’t even answer because the other was asking too fast.

Lunch was eaten in complete silence with both of them blushing. When Shoot decided the situation was too awkward, he mentioned how nice the food was and that he was really happy Knuckle remembered which Sushi he liked.

While Knuckle waved it off, saying he just picked up whatever looked the best, he had actually remembered what Shoot preferred, but mentioning that would just make things really awkward, wouldn’t it?

After finishing the delicious lunch and having thought this through for days now, Shoot decided to do something that was rather untypical of him. He decided to speak up. This moment was as good as any other and he was already blushing, so why not?

“Knuckle, can we talk for a moment?”, he started when the other wanted to get up again.

“What is it?”, Knuckle asked, tensing up as if he had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Shoot didn’t find out about the spying on his showers, right?

“You remember what happened some … days ago?”

Knuckle would have loved to asked something like “What do you mean?” or “I don’t get what you want”, but he knew instantly what Shoot meant and he gulped at the thought alone. He did remember very clearly his accidental confession, and he did hope he can just slip away with it. He did not answer. Shoot did not say anything for seconds that seemed like minutes. He was blushing even more intensively by the moment. When he saw that Knuckle will not answer, or is just simply not able to, he decided to continue – almost whispering and stuttering here and there:

“Y-you did not mean… That you… me, like that… right?” That was absolutely not how Shoot wanted to make it sound like. It sounded like he hoped for it that Knuckle was not in love with him, while it was actually quite the opposite. The facial expression of Knuckle – which mirrored disappointment and a little hurt – showed that this was indeed not worded right. Before Shoot could gather the courage to fix his mistake, Knuckle already spoke – well, half shouted – up.

“Well what if I did, huh? I mean, we are adults. And we can talk about this as adults. And solve the situation as adults. So, let’s be adults and… and talk about it. Solve it. Like adults, you know.”

“Yes, talk about it.” Agreed Shoot.

“Like adults.”

“Yes, like adults.” After this, none of them said a word.

They just sat there, and looked at each other, like it was the first time they met, both with tomato red faces and sweaty palms. They did not utter a single word despite the fact that they just agreed on talking about this, and it looked like neither of them really had anything valuable to say, or anything that made remote sense really.

Knuckle got really tense from this in a short while.

“Ah, fuck it!” he said, then moving with the speed of sound nearly, he reached out, took Shoot’s face in-between his sweaty palms, and pulled him close to a forceful kiss – which ended up just them crashing their teeth violently.

In the evening of the same day Morel and Knov sat together rewatching this scene a few times and being just as relieved as Knuckle and Shoot that this finally happened.

“Did you tell him to get a present for Shoot?”, Knov asked – not that he minded that at this point.

“I swear I did not. He managed to come up with that all on his own.”

“I’m glad it turned out like this.”

“Yeah, it was already so embarrassing to watch these two idiots dance around each other completely obviously”, Morel said while the monitor showed Knuckle and Shoot flinching back in pain from the violent kiss, before falling into a hug with Knuckle crying a little from happiness. The video quality wasn’t good enough to make out what exactly happened, but it was obvious that they were together with this.

“Should we turn it off?”, asked Knov, observing the two figures getting out of the room.

“Well, I won. There’s no way you can deny that.”

“I didn’t mean to. I lost, alright, I admit that.”

“You want to see if they did anything naughty?”, Morel grinned. “I should have known!”

“If they did… what do you think?”

“Whatever I think we’re gonna bet on that and then we just need to continue watching for proof, is that what you’re saying?”

“Maybe.” Knov smiled a little, before rewinding for the fourth time, watching that awkward first kiss again that had taken them so long.

While Morel and Knov didn’t have good enough audio to hear what Knuckle and Shoot were actually saying, it wasn’t that hard to guess. A loud ow after the violent teeth clashing and then Shoot saying he also loved the other and Knuckle crying on the new cashmere pullover, mixing love confessions with tears and swearing how stupid they were.

“This is really cute.” Said Knov after some more rewinding, and Morel had to silently agree. They always stopped the tape right after the teary love confessions, and never went further than that, their moral side telling them that what they were doing was already not proper. However, they were only humans, and their natural curiosity was poking at their brains in an annoying manner. Not to mention their almost unstoppable urge to bet on what will happen exactly – especially Knov, who really would have liked to win back his money before he even gave it to Morel. And the fact that it would be just plain sexy to see them having sex was of course also there.

After two more rewinds, Knov spoke up:

“I bet that Shoot is a freaking perverted minx in bed.”

“The bet is on.” Came the answer immediately, and they continued to watch the video, hoping that they would have sex still today, otherwise they would need to time specify the bet.

After Knuckle calmed down a little bit, and more or less stopped crying, they continued to hug for some more minutes, just enjoying the moment and the soft cashmere.

“D’ya want to cuddle?” asked Knuckle after pulling away a little and wiping his eyes and face.

“Yes…” with that, they started to walk towards the bedroom, and this time Knuckle did not even care that Shoot did not use his crutches.

They both lied down and got wrapped in a blanket, hugging each other close, and enjoying this feeling that they were both hoping to feel for some time now, just being in the other’s arms and smelling each other, feeling each other’s skin and warmth…

It was not long before their legs got tangled and their bodies were pressed, and they were both contemplating whether or not it would be a good idea to make the first step towards intimacy. Both wanted it, no doubt, but both were unsure about the other. Especially Knuckle in whose eyes Shoot needed to be handled with great care in order to not be embarrassed. Not that it was completely possible, but Knuckle would give his best to avoid unnecessary embarrassment. Also cuddling was completely fine.

Before he knew it after sinking into this embrace and sinking into the warm bed, Knuckle had dozed off. Probably all the crying before tired him out too. He awoke rapidly at an unexpected touch, successfully headbutting Shoot in the process who fell backwards.

“Oh my God, shit, what happened?”

“I just…”, Shoot started, sitting up again with visibly no damage – he really just got scared too. “I just wanted to pull your blanket over your shoulders so that you can sleep and not get cold.”

“Oh … ah … thanks. I just wasn’t asleep, only … you know.”

“Only napping”, Shoot reacted with a smile.

“Yeah, maybe a bit, but … it’s your fault, just your fault cause you’re so nice to cuddle up to!”

Shoot smiled, looking away shyly for a moment.

“Did I hurt ya?”

“It takes more to hurt me, you know that. And don’t even start that I’m weaker now – it’s really just that I can’t use one leg fully.”

“Never would’ve said you’re weak”, Knuckle smiled. Shoot looked away, hiding his blush but it was really unnecessary. Knuckle knew Shoot too well to know that he blushed to every comment that could be taken, or actually was a praise or compliment.  “I know that you’re strong.” The shorter continued. “You fought against a royal guard all by yourself, and lived to tell the tale. You are one of the strongest people I know… But… I know that on the inside you’re just as soft as I am.”

“I think you’re softer.”

“Hey! I’m tryin’ ta create some nice atmosphere here for my awesome love confession, gimme a break!” Shoot chuckled at that, in fact so hard, that he could hardly stop. Naturally, this made Knuckle laugh as well, and it took both of them a strong minute to finally calm down, and being able to look each other in the eye without giggling like the idiots they were.

“Ah, whatever, I just love ya.” Said Knuckle in the end, and leaned in for a kiss, much more careful than before and this time making slow, nice, but also passionate at the same time.


End file.
